Anthony Kenny
Prodigal Son
Augustine: Conversions and Confessions
By Robin Lane Fox
Allen Lane 657pp £30 order from our bookshop
Augustine, a work of scholarship as readable as any historical novel, is not exactly a biography. It takes the story of Augustine’s life only to his forty-fourth year; Robin Lane Fox has almost nothing to say about the thirty-three years as a bishop that still lay ahead of him. The book is not so much about Augustine himself as about Augustine’s own autobiography, the Confessions. It examines the events recollected in that book and the development of the thoughts that went into its composition.
The Confessions is indeed a remarkable work. In the ancient world it was the first, and only, example of what we nowadays think of as autobiography. Earlier writers, such as Xenophon and Julius Caesar, recorded their exploits but told us nothing about their inner lives. In later centuries, autobiographers took the Confessions as their model and sometimes hijacked its title.
Many studies of Augustine’s life have been written: each year innumerable new titles are added to the bibliography. This book differs from previous studies in several ways. It takes account of recently discovered letters and sermons that were not available to earlier scholars. It also brings out Augustine’s uniqueness by
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It is the ... sketches of the local and the overlooked that lend this book its density and drive, and emphasise Britain’s mostly low-key riches – if only you can be bothered to buy an anorak and seek.'
Jonathan Meades on the beauty of brutalism.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/castles-of-concrete
'Cruickshank’s history reveals an extraordinary eclecticism of architectural styles and buildings, from Dutch Revivalism to Arts and Crafts experimentation, from Georgian terraces to Victorian mansion blocks.'
William Boyd on the architecture of Chelsea.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/where-george-eliot-meets-mick-jagger
'The eight years he has spent in solitary confinement have had a devastating impact on his mental health ... human rights organisations believe his detention is punishment for his critical views.'
@lucyjpop on the Egyptian activist and poet Ahmed Douma.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ahmed-douma